Beyond the Pack’s Law: My stepsister or nobody else

Hayley’s POV

I heard a soft knock on the door and stood to open it. My hands were quaking violently, and it was a task just getting a grip on the door knob. I was already starting to get a grip on the tears flooding down, but then one look at Aiden’s dad’s soft expression and all my defenses came crumbling down.

My legs turned to mush, and I lost my balance. He caught me right on time and hugged me.

“I’m sorry.” I said it was all I could muster up. I felt like a monster. What kind of child would hurt her own mother?

“Shush, she’s going to be alright.” He said it in a whisper and stroked my hair.

I couldn’t tell if he meant it, but I was almost completely convinced he didn’t. To me, it didn’t make sense; wasn’t he supposed to be scolding me? He had told the both of us to wait till tomorrow, and we didn’t, and now my mom was in need of medical attention.

“Where is the ambulance?” I asked when I noticed the siren sounds were gone; it was back to being a still-cold, silent night.

“They’re on their way to the hospital; there wasn’t enough room for me to tag along, so I’m going to drive there right now.” He answered, still stroking my hair and gently patting my back.

Something about that gesture helped, because my sobs had subsided. I tried to step back from him and stand by myself, but my legs still felt shaky, so I ended up back in his embrace.

“I want to go with you.” I said as he helped me sit on my bed.

He sat next to me and shook his head.

“You should stay here and get some rest. I’ll give you a call when you can come tomorrow.” He said

“But what am I supposed to do till then?” I asked

“You’re going to stay home, get some rest, and not blame yourself.” He smiled weakly.

“But it is my fault. I hit her; I don’t even know how, but I did, and now she’s” My voice trailed off as a thought evaded my mind: what if she died?

“She’s going to be fine.” He chipped in and completed the sentence, but that wasn’t what was on my mind.

What if she died? Moments before, I had imagined her dead in my mind, and then I hit her.

What if a part of me knowingly used that much force? That would make me a monster.

“Did you try to hurt her?” I asked my inner wolf.

“I would never; your emotions got out of control.” The voice in my head answered back.

Aiden’s dad stood to leave, and my eyes followed him as he walked to the door. He had that soft look in his eyes, the kind you gave to a child who didn’t know the difference between right and wrong when they did something bad. I was thankful he wasn’t mad at me; I couldn’t imagine how mom would feel towards me if… no, when she got better.This belongs © NôvelDra/ma.Org.

“We’ll be back before you know it. I’ll call you if anything happens. For now, just stay here. Can you do that for us?” He asked.

I nodded, and he left.

I listened as he reached the stairs, walked down, and got to the door. My eyes moved to the window when I heard the sound of his engine coming on. I wanted to follow him, but he was right; I could barely keep myself together, and I wasn’t sure mom would want to see my face right away.

The humming of the engine slowly faded away, and I laid my head on my pillow. Exhaustion washed over me; my eyelids felt like cement; every fiber of my being was tired and in need of rest.

I closed my eyes and surrendered to the fatigue, and before I knew it, everything around me slowly faded away.

_________

The deafening sound of my alarm clock filled my head. I reached out to turn it off, but accidentally ended up knocking it over to the floor. A loud crack filled the room, and that was all it took to get me out of bed.

I squinted my eyes open and had to use a hand to shield them from the blinding rays of sunlight pouring into the room. My head felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer a couple times.

I sat up and picked up the clock. There was a large crack on the glass. I stared at it for a while. I set it back on the desk, not wanting to think about it.

I made my way to the curtains and pulled them shut. I took a quick look outside; dad’s car wasn’t there. He wasn’t back.

I reached for my phone, expecting to see a call, but there wasn’t anything. Maybe he thought I was asleep; it was still really early after all.

I calmed my nerves and headed downstairs. I was so thirsty that my throat felt sore. I got to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of water, but the moment I stepped in, I froze.

Last night’s events replayed in my mind, and I walked over to where mom had hit the wall. The glass debris was still all over the place, and the emotions came flooding back.

My eyes shifted to the dent in the wall; unless she had a skeleton of steel, there was no way she’d come out of that without any broken bones.

I fought back the tears; they wouldn’t solve anything anyway. I got a broom and cleared up the glass shards. One caught my eye; it was clear like the others. I picked it up, and I realized what it was: it was covered in dry blood.

Damn, she was bleeding.

That revelation didn’t help with the guilt I was already feeling. I held the shard in between my fingers, carefully shuffling it.

The sound of my phone ringing echoed from my room, and I snapped out of the trance I was in.